Chicago Marathon Training Recap: Week 7 (+ a Catch-Up)

Wait, wait, week 7?! Yes, seven! I now owe this blog my three-quarters-of-the-way-written spring half marathon recap, and six whole weeks of marathon training for my upcoming fall race: the Chicago marathon.

Every week I think, “This is it. I’m going to start again,” and then I don’t. I think after spending a whole work day posted in front of a computer, the last thing I want to do when I get home is sit down in front of another one. Despite this, I really enjoy sharing my training, connecting with other runners in this blogosphere, and having something to look back on.

For my first marathon, I was actually more diligent about documenting the first half of training and missed the last few weeks of recaps due a happy storm of wedding/honeymoon/marathon. This time, I’m going to play a little catch-up after this post, perhaps grouping weeks 1-3, and 3-6 in two, brief, separate posts.

The run-down: I entered the Chicago Marathon lottery this past winter – sooner than I expected to have to commit to a marathon so shortly after NYC, but I’d been looking forward to my next marathon even before I finished training for my first. I never published a NYC marathon recap, but I had a really, good experience in New York. I took it very easy in the first half — unafraid to pause for walking breaks (in retrospect, probably more than I actually needed) and soaked in the whole experience. I ran much more of the second half and had enough energy to pick up speed during the last 10k, but I was definitely ready to cross the finish line.

I finished my first marathon in 5:44:XX at a 13:08 pace. I never felt sick, didn’t hit the wall, and completed my only objective: finish happy. It was only until this past spring, training for the Owens Corning Half, that I really started experiment with higher, more consistent weekly mileage and getting an idea of how fast I could run. The first time I actually made and met a time goal. Now, a little more than a year later after beginning training for my first marathon, I have a big goal for Chicago – shaving off a whole lot of time and dipping under 4:30:XX.

Week 7 is actually a cool place to start, if we have to start somewhere in the middle. It was my highest weekly mileage ever: 43 miles. Can I mention how long I’ve wanted to hit 40+ miles?! I vividly remember celebrating 2-mile runs and 10 miles in a week! And frankly, why stop?

• Monday: Pure Barre
• Tuesday: 2 mile warm-up to the track, 10 x 800m at 12k pace w/1 minute rest, and a 1 mile cool-down back home
• Wednesday: 6 miles easy
• Thursday: 7 miles easy
• Friday: “Rest” day @ Lollapallooza in Chicago, which actually amounted to ~13 miles walked, according to my Garmin
• Saturday: 14 miles w/4x60s surges w/5min easy in between along the Chicago Lakefront Trail
• Sunday: 2 easy miles, 4 “steady miles,” and 1 easy mile
• Weekly mileage = 43

I was in Chicago Thursday-Saturday this week with my husband and siblings for Lollapalooza, which resulted in a great run to the observatory on Thursday, and a long run along Lake Michigan on Saturday. Lollapalooza didn’t really lend itself to taking it easy on rest day, but all things considered, I did the best I could.

High: braving my first workout on an actual track! There was only one walker there, and I finished right before the college athletes showed up so I’m calling it a big win. I’m sure I could’ve figured out 10x800m somewhere else, but it was nice to shut off the part of my brain that would’ve needed to map a route.

See ya next week!